A Mountain View man accused of having sex with two underage girls while working as a counselor at a youth group home was sentenced to eight years in prison after he pleaded no contest Dec. 20 to felony child molestation, unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor and dissuading a witness, according to the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office.
Francis Caceres, 30, was arrested in January of 2017 after investigators determined he had sexual relations with a 14-year-old girl he met the prior summer while working at Your House South, a group home for troubled teens run by the nonprofit StarVista. Caceres was terminated from his position at the Redwood City facility after staff found out about the alleged abuse, which reportedly did not occur at the group home. Weeks after the case came to light, additional felony charges were filed against him when another teen resident of the facility came forward claiming she was also a victim, prosecutors said previously.
Caceres allegedly had sex with the first victim to step forward Dec. 23, 2016, after they began meeting at places away from the youth home where the girl was staying. Starting when the second victim was 13, Caceres allegedly flirted with her and started a sexual relationship with her involving molestations occurring in the group home’s recreation room. He was working at Tayler Group Home in San Jose when he was arrested Jan. 12, 2017, according to prosecutors.
District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe called the sentence fair and said he will be required to register as a sex offender for life. He added that one of the victims was present at sentencing and that impact letters were read to the court.
Defense attorney Steve Chase said the impact letters had an effect on the judge’s decision to levy the eight-year sentence. Still, he said Caceres is remorseful though he sees the situation differently.
“He was the adult and he shouldn’t have gotten involved with the kids. He understands that,” he said. “It’s a very very sad case, but he put himself in this situation.”
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(1) comment
Another example of outstanding investigative work by San Mateo Co. Sheriff's detectives.
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Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.